Early base design guide - The Space Engineers Handbook

Hello everyone! Welcome to a new series, the Space Engineers Handbook! This will be a tutorial guide series where I will be going through some of the crucial aspects of the game and how to best navigate them. Leave any suggestions in the comment section down below! Please like comment and subscribe to support the channel :)
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[@ultimoketchup3299]

Perfect timing, after 257.9 hours of game time I've finally committed myself to a survival world

[@LunarKolony]

Excellent, bon voyage

[@Kneejair]

Surviving now is easy. Way back when it was very hard

[@nickmyers3065]

This game was never hard lol@@Kneejair

[@jacobmurray5840]

BRO im in the same boat 253 hours in, just started a survival world

[@ultimoketchup3299]

@@jacobmurray5840 I've been enjoying it thoroughly, I got an Earth like Drop pod survival and a space pod survival

[@ChazFoulstone]

700+ hours and I learnt more from this video than all of my hours of building experience. So many little details and ideas I never thought of. Thanks!

[@TheAzul_Indigo]

I set searchlights to target friendlies so I get a spotlight on me working at night without having to build interior lights everywhere yet. Great vid, could have used it like 3 months ago when I got the game! lol

[@nordicturtle6060]

Honestly was not expecting something so well thought out, with the every point in the video being engaging and very easy to follow. Excellent tutorial I must say. Also your builds are very nice and aesthetic

[@theoriginalunalteredmaxo]

Finally a both comprehensive and clearly understandable guide including everything for my beginner ah to grasp the mechanics. Thx a bunch, I hope to see more of such examples!

[@LunarKolony]

Glad it helped!

[@clericalheretic]

A solid 10/10 tutorial. bonus points for professionalism, resisting the urge to cuss, and not a single vape rip. Very excited to see how this series develops!

[@LunarKolony]

LMAOOOOO I don't cuss in these scripted videos haha

[@dylanmonstrum1538]

Lol what

[@PraetorPaktu]

This is just what survival SE needs to be cool.

[@Marxon1134]

I personally recommend a dedicated conveyor tower with a welder for a constantly repaired decoy. Constant maintenance also tends to ensure only steel plates are gradually consumed.

[@jacksonbarkerthebluehairedfox]

Production quality on your videos have seriously been improving. Loved the intro for this video, very good job!

[@LunarKolony]

Thank you very much! :D glad you enjoyed

[@lucadowney9455]

love your content lunar, just bought the game after watching almost all of your survival series, and this video really helped, thanks!

[@LunarKolony]

thank you! glad you enjoy :D

[@willmurjen6600]

I never once thought of using the landing gear, battery and spotlight combo in mines - Will definitely remember that. The custom turret controller, I've never used before, but will utilize that now. Thank you very much for this video!

[@HairyHillman]

another trick if you are relatively new but want to push yourself a bit is to use an advanced rotor at the end of the drill to set up small drills instead of large ones. Small drills take much less resources to make (and dont require any cobalt) so it is worth sub-girding if you really want to get away from hand drilling a bit quicker

[@LunarKolony]

yep, excellent tip

[@micklivi92]

This is the best tutorial i've ever watched. Most i like how it's not too specific, it shows the order of events to enjoy survival. I hope you do more survival videos! Instant sub.

[@solsempiternal3335]

I've been finding it hard to get back into space engineers but this has made me boot it up again, great video!

[@Phaeranbro]

Loved the video, i especially love that it's a handbook because there was something's I didn't know, can't wait for the next one.

[@LunarKolony]

I'm glad you enjoyed, thank you!

[@grimmace1524]

Hey Lunar! Been watching your content for a while now and I absolutely love it! My fav series is the ship classifications, and in fact it's what introduced me to your channel! Glad you're doing a Handbook series for the newbies! I know a few friends I could show it to.

[@LunarKolony]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed, that series was a lot of fun to make too, just need to strike a balance as these types of videos take a while to make

[@roundnround952]

Very well done mate, very professionally! I wouldn't be surprised if Keen references this video for new players, in-game, in the future.

[@harrowshadow]

funny enough as a new player this video indirectly helped me realize that find wind turbines need to be elevated, I've just had them in a tight formation for space

[@ericseidel4940]

I Always see vertical mining rigs, please try Horizontal ones at the foot of a hill, or a cliff. They are so SO useful because you ca easily walk on your mine, and then use them as a protective hangar. A good combo is one or more pistons to dig horizontally, plus a hinge to swipe left and right, then pile horizontal drills at the end, a 6x stack is good to have a 4 blocks high hangar.

[@johndee2990]

I make those a lot, I call my Vertical Automated Miners "Drill Rigs" and the Horizontal Ones "Tunnel Boring Machines" The latter is more of a Base Excavation Tool that also gathers resources.

[@HungarianPatriotGaming]

Well, I just started playing and didn't know anything about this, and I'm not very fond of hand mining. On the bright side, I learned how to disassemble unknown signal probes WHILE they are trying to fly away from me in terror. When I bought the game, playing aerial tag with a jetpack and a circular saw was the last thing I expected.

[@DariusT32]

I love the tone on this video. Reminds a bit of Hitchhiker's guide

[@dylanmonstrum1538]

DAMN, this is so nice and neat! What a fantastic video! I can see all the time and effort gone into this, that's also appreciated! Heaps of info that I will soon forget, so I'll be back here soon, driving up the views lol

[@darthslackus499]

Agreed. Don't know how many times I also fell into my own holes that I dug up. Such a simple solution, yet it never crossed my mind to fenced off the area, lol.

[@kerbalairforce8802]

Drill rig: you can build a super cheap drill arm with just a drill and a hinge. As you get more resources, you can add conveyors to extend the reach until you can afford a bigger drill rig. Solar panels: near the North and South poles, a solar panel can be placed vertically on a rotor, and track the sun as it skims the horizon. Hydrogen engine: a timer setup to switch the engine off and on (10 minute intervals work fine) can simplify base power management. Just leave batteries on "auto". Spotlights: placed high up and set to target friendlies is helpful for working on your Rover at night.

[@bluedragonrob1]

A+ THANK YOU for your ideas and sharing your brilliance. This was very well edited as well.

[@vii3796]

Space Engineers is like that minecraft phase for me, that urge to play here and there lol. But nice to see that there's still content creators making helpful guides, kudos.

[@nickjohnson9640]

Thanks for this video. I am sure it won’t be long until I purchase this game, but I can tell it’s a lot to take in at the beginning. Your fun and informative video here has helped combat some fear of the unknown!

[@tyronewhite918]

I never actually took the time to make my starter base look nice. This video gave me inspiration.

[@RimWorldRimmer]

Wow, perfect timing my last base was just wiped off the earth like... But this is definitely an upgrade thank you Papi Lunar

[@jumpjack6436]

Just getting back into this game after a break. Great video. Thanks.

[@frogstrfytr]

wow! great intro and great work in all those small details !

[@LunarKolony]

Thank you!

[@eshfrog]

You can right click on a slider to set it back to the default value. This is quite powerful for hinges, rotors, and pistons, when you want to stop them moving, you can just right click on the velocity slider.

[@TheAechBomb]

the default for pistons is -0.5 m/s >:(

[@eshfrog]

@@TheAechBomb oh true My bad Still works for hinges and rotors though I think

[@johnp.2267]

I'd love to see you make a video where you start singing "Diggy Diggy Hole" and gut the interior of a mountain for a huge base. Just imagine all the resources you'd have once you were done, and you'd have a mountain shell for camouflage. Could have hidden-door missiles for defense, assault cannons hidden in "alcoves", an insane amount of power generation, and an entire floor devoted to industry. Maybe even a vehicle printer bay to pop out rovers, space pods, and other things. You could totally get away with playing *In The Hall Of The Mountain King* for audio, as it's royalty free.

[@The-Ink-Dragon97]

THANK YOU! I really needed this!

[@LunarKolony]

You are welcome!

[@Doctor_Grubious]

Thank you for uploading this just as finish my first real base 💀

[@Zeralas]

Great instructional video for beginners! Your audio is clear and concise, the script is easy to follow, and the visuals enhanced the concepts and points you covered. Do you have a specific number of videos planned for the new Handbook?

[@LunarKolony]

Nope, but I plan to keep it going as a series, but maybe stream line it a bit as this video took way too long to make lol

[@elijahpostell6553]

love it man some simple ideas to help ppl who are just starting. just what ppl need. thanks keep up the good work

[@LunarKolony]

thank you very much :)

[@galacticsurvivorvainamoine5823]

I usually have a plan as I'm landing, to build either a ship or a large grid rover as my first main transport to get me to wherever I'm planning to put my real first base. I place and arrange my survival base in such a way that when I'm ready, it can just be cut off the ground and driven/flown away.

[@johndee2990]

You could legitimately build your Bases like the Ships in the Expanse, they're built to be flying towers

[@LoopieTheClown]

awesome video Lunar, very helpful but also peaceful and fun to watch.

[@LunarKolony]

thank you! :D

[@denully]

im taking tips from somone who's car is upside down... what has my life come to 😂

[@YEAHKINDA]

Another thing about solar, don't be afraid to come up with weird solutions to power. I, myself, fancy having large power arrays with either modded power lines connecting to other grids, or a transport ship that collects charged batteries from solar farms and deposits drained ones.

[@robertgruber4361]

Thanks for the basic video. I learned a few things.

[@LunarKolony]

Glad to hear it!

[@johndee2990]

Thank you for making these videos. I started playing probably just over a year ago, started on Xbox actually. At first I found myself trying to mimic the Randomly Generated Outposts for my "Early" base design. Then I found your *"How to stay Motivated"* video and started making "Work Sites" for the early game. I usually start with a "First Aid Shack" near my Hand Mine, this is mainly just a Survival Kit & Power Source and maybe a O2/H2 Generator & Tanks if you have a source of Ice nearby. Ounce I have Mined enough Stone to build my Spawn-point I go scouting about a 1km radius from my Pod to find all the Ores available on the Planet and build at least one Automated Drilling Rig on a spot with 2 or more Ores. (usually Nickle and Silicon) This Rig will have my Basic Refinery on it to immediately make ingots so I am more efficient in my Hauling runs. (Event Controller and a Beacon if you want an easy way to shut the machine down and notify yourself when it's full) At this point I will either decide to make a Logistics Hangar, Tunnel Boring Rig, or I will use my Vertical Rig to Excavate a Base as well as grab a few more resources. This is where I build my Single Welder/Piston Printing Setup to start production of my Small Grids. (Other Rigs will be turned into Grinder Pits, Refineries or even just Storage when they've dug their holes.) By the time I have established my work site my Hand Mine is about as extensive as the ones going through asteroids on Pertam Orbiter and usually has a Battery and Hydrogen Engine for either another Basic Refinery or I might try to hide a Survival Kit in there on PvP servers. Been looking at the Abandon Outposts Mod though.. might be fun to try a playthrough where I can't start my own sites but have to find a Ruin to start fixing up instead.. looks like there's even undead engineers with grinders in one of the screenshots

[@badgerwildgaming6908]

Pro tip build next to a hillside and set up collectors at the bottom. Then you can just mine stone and let it roll down to your base for constant mining.

[@ianwilson469]

Excellent video, possibly one of your best. Have struggled often with setting up meaningful bases. That are just piles of bits and pieces. Would be nice to see some stills of your setups from the video, in your discord (just joined) or else where. Thank you 🙂👍

[@LunarKolony]

I'm glad you enjoyed! I can drop some stills in there when I get the chance :D

[@ParGellen]

The upside down rover at the start of the video is basically a staple of everything I do in Space Engineers :D

[@LunarKolony]

:'D lil easter egg

[@No_ser_nadiee]

I love your creativity

[@JP-st9hn]

I dug a hole at the base of a frozen lake and mountain. I put a collector at the bottom. I was able to do it within the first few hours. Its like gravity mining. I got huge amounts of building materials and ice very fast. I just piped it right up to the survival and o2. It was so satisfying to accomplish. Anywhere I drilled it just funneled right into the system since the I had a side of a mountain to bore into.

[@draksis4591]

great video, hope the rest are just as informative and well made

[@LunarKolony]

of course!

[@fredpryde8555]

awesome ideas and i know that feeling of falling into mine hole with rover lol

[@PickleNL]

realy good and helpful video. nice intro by the way. is it nuwe I havent seen it before. i hope you have a wonder ful day :)

[@LunarKolony]

I made it just for this series :)

[@PickleNL]

@@LunarKolony well its a nice nuwe intro.

[@keinname2662]

Really enyoing your contant would watch more of this series

[@Cmdr_Taaron]

An easy way to reduce H² usage is to use eventcontrollers. You can program them to activate the engines if the Base Battery drops below like 25% and another one to stop the engines if the Battery reaches 75%

[@LunarKolony]

This is top tier advice

[@FUT-Franklin]

The first thing I would've stressed is the need to keep your grid powered, as you get sooooo many people who log off and come back a few days later to no base because they didn't place a battery then ultimately get demoralised and quit. I see it on a weekly sometimes daily basis on keen's dedicated servers. But asides that great guide, keep it up.

[@R3LOADdoesthings]

a very nice handbook guide. definitly will take some pointers in the immersion zone. Maybe that's why I always lacked interest in SE survival... Off to a new world I go, then!

[@LunarKolony]

playing for immersion is a whole different experience, don't rush things! :D

[@gamingscout1890]

This is absolutely amazing! But if it is possible could you do a more advanced base design one with a refinery maxed out? If not that’s totally fine

[@loucurasau0601]

I wish I had that decoration mod that you use on the power tower

[@nakkiibrks]

Tanks!

[@LunarKolony]

You're welcome! :)

[@johnd6980]

I like to make my first base in a way that I can just outfit it with some thrusters and cut it loose from the ground to go right into space

[@pankolegaSniper]

Nice,thx :D

[@hoodininr4996]

Very nice video, really wel reasond and explained

[@Bobbyttfnn]

this my friend earned a sub and a like and a comment i guess

[@screaming_cat2007]

After nearly 100 hours I’m tempted to do survival from scratch and not just using keen’s worlds

[@truevikingontour904]

Thx for the help. it helped a lot.

[@davidcooksey3822]

Thanks it easy to follow

[@KevoTheFello]

I love this

[@bigchunk9717]

Same

[@jeckjeck6943]

Very nice.

[@snakeofminthumbugs330]

The way I imagined a SE first base was a cozy little building on the edge of a hill looking out into the grassy and beautiful valley (like the thumbnail), due to my graphics card and poor building skills its actually just sitting in a dull field next to a few blocks with turbines haphazardly shoved on it.

[@Runescope]

My favourite way to protect Wind Turbines is to build them underground in my mines. You do need to drill out a large area for it to work, but You need a lot of stone to convert into Iron/Silicon/Nickel anyways.

[@johndee2990]

Don't they have strange efficiency underground?

[@Runescope]

@@johndee2990 No stranger than above ground. It's a glitch in the game, but as long as they have the required 8x8 space around them, they work just as well as normal.

[@johndee2990]

@@Runescope That's what I was wondering, well it's not as bad as having to keep about a 5 block space from voxels in ALL directions

[@KamramBehzad]

Good intro indeed

[@BisexualPlagueDoctor]

My first survival base is on an asteroid and I have no idea what’s going on by now my space pod has a drill and a welding tool and I covered a space rock in machinery No idea if I’m doing it right but it’s working so far and I just need to find resources which for some reason we’re abundant where I spawned, but I lost power while moving so could change directions and forgot what direction I came from by the time I regained power

[@Bannedchan]

Just started playing for first time since game was Early Access, must be so many years Went modded so my base made it till night 3, then a huge ship named Ward of Lothian reduced it to scrap while passing by. Think setting up 4km from something listed as a Military base was poor yet cool seeming choice 😅

[@OssjdbDjshheeh]

See me personally I just build platforms and put my stuff on top, the most I do is organize it efficiently and paint the blocks lol

[@bradleyhaig9389]

W content

[@LunarKolony]

Thanks!

[@Fynmar91]

5:59 why is it not a great idea to build the full tower?

[@Pollycrew101]

Saves resources and can be aesthetic. Fully your own choice though

[@Skiggles]

I cannot get the drill rig to work at all. Built it several times and the connection stays yellow. All piston heads and rotor head is welded up. Any ideas?

[@francisstranieri2067]

Base energy?

[@MrQuantumInc]

You can only get 8 grids from the lander, and without cobalt you cannot make more. So you cannot have both large grid cargo and enough thrusters for an early miner. So building a large grid cargo container on your early base is often a terrible idea. Just place a small grid landing gear and attach a row of small grid medium containers.

[@ieuan211]

Can these guides be used for the Xbox version of SE

[@LunarKolony]

Yup, all this is vanilla!

[@AelianusNotorius]

how did you make those bumpers for the windmill? I cant find those little bars.

[@LunarKolony]

@@AelianusNotorius interior pillars or truss blocks

[@RST9413]

if you buy it take a look at this. A replay from one developer when a lot of people complain about servers crashing and lagging makeing the game unplayable. "Space Engineers is not sold as an solely as an ONLINE game, Keen servers are a free bonus to the game's single player and multiplayer experiences. There are many non-official servers to choose from ". So,they don t care if you struggle to play.

[@dvevideos9729]

I think the game is perfectly playable. Me and a friend have 200 hours in the game each, and we've only had one crash which came from us crashing our spaceships into each other at a (modded) 700 M/S

[@stonecoat_art]

love this video, time to reinstall

[@spiritretro3571]

are.... are we gonna ignore the flipped rover in the background?

[@LunarKolony]

Thank god someone noticed 🤣

[@spiritretro3571]

also REALLY like this video but i had to voice my concerns xD@@LunarKolony

[@gideondahler6669]

Hey! I'm new to the game and I was following your guide, I was wondering what was the block you used to space the armor away from the windmill tower? It looked like a thin beam.

[@LunarKolony]

That's the pillar block, grinded down to it's first build stage :)

[@gideondahler6669]

Thank you so much! @@LunarKolony

[@Zerli]

Im curious how did you got this lcd image on your base? :D

[@KatSun3i]

this is really helpful but i find that no matter what i can't commit to a survival world. Im terrible at making vehicles plus it takes wayyy to long for me to get any of the resources i need

[@MrAkrei]

How do I access my assembler inventory doing this?

[@fluffyone2012]

Okay, I am going say. You need metal grids for your stuff. Your putting the cart before the horse.Cargo container small large and large container both need Grids. How you get those.

[@LunarKolony]

Handing mining, mine cobalt

[@fluffyone2012]

One time finding cobalt took me 20 K out and a full hour to find in game On earth. A solution to problem Small Grid landing gear on platform next to the Refiery. Use either medum cargo or small Large cargo until cobalit can be found. Don't take metal grids to make and can hold as much.

[@AidanT-nk2ru]

Do you need conveyor tubes or can you put conveyor ports on items together

[@saltycaptain4359]

The ports on machines will work together

[@AidanT-nk2ru]

@@saltycaptain4359 thank you

[@AVeyence]

I know its from an old video, but how the f did you manage to create that small photovoltaic tower? My rotators go bum bum and clank

[@russellsouthall5876]

What block are you using to connect the armor panels to the turbine tower? I’ve been searching forever, and can’t find it for the life of me.

[@LunarKolony]

Interior pillars?

[@russellsouthall5876]

@@LunarKolony Ahh, thank you! I’m new to SE, so I’m not too familiar with the unconstructed blocks haha. Much appreciated!

[@LunarKolony]

@@russellsouthall5876 no worries! Maybe check out the new survive with me series, as it covers the whole start to advanced process ( or it will once I've finished it!) good luck !

[@Nathouuuutheone]

Can't get storage, haven't found cobalt

[@Prisoner4245]

I hate that you have to unlock blocks. Is there a way to turn that off?

[@LunarKolony]

Yup, go into world settings and deselect 'Progression'

[@rudestbeast4907]

I made a hand mining area for ps+ kids who DLed SE for free, i give them trinkets like m50 ammo for every 10k ingots they produce.

[@masteroogway8254]

Space Engineers needs some sort of tutorial for newbies

[@LunarKolony]

Check out my survive with me series

[@gainward2]

I have no idea how to do open world like this in Space Engineers :(

[@davidklemen5264]

Im not the only one living on a platform with a turbine tower and everything else in giant cube of reassemblers/refiners and storage?

[@AltairZielite]

This is way too advanced for me... just trying to find out where to get some metal grids so I can finish my assembler.

[@PoiTEE]

Nice! no clicky click though....

[@DmytroBogdan]

65k views... talking about popping up 😮

[@koni.K]

Ive just built a massive plate